We must remain open to the persuading work of the Holy Spirit. We must respond with our whole being and totally invest ourselves in God’s promises. This means that we will live our life now as if we could already see the things promised for the future. The Bible gives many examples of such personal investment of faith in God’s word: 

(1) Abraham left his secure life in Ur of the Chaldees for a land he had never seen that God promised to his seed.  

(2) Noah invested 120 years building the ark, when no one had ever seen rain before.  

(3) Moses refused to remain identified with Egypt, but chose to become a part of God’s suffering people because he believed God’s promise of deliverance.  

(4) Jeremiah purchased the field of Anathoth immediately after prophesying Judah’s 70 years of captivity in Babylon. He believed they would again return to the land according to God’s word. He expressed his confidence by purchasing real estate.  

 

We can add to our faith practical virtues. Faith is itself one of the three cardinal virtues: faith, hope, and charity (or love) listed in I Corinthians 13:13. But it is also the beginning virtue which produces Christian character and makes us fruitful rather than barren.  

 

And beside this, giving all diligence, add to your faith virtue … know- ledge … temperance … patience … godliness … kindness … charity. For if these things be in you, and abound, they make you that ye shall neither be barren nor unfruitful in the know- ledge of our Lord Jesus Christ (2 Peter 1:5-8).